


two brothers have a short chat before the end of the world

by fuhllmetal



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Stress Relief, Xerxes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 21:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3825808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuhllmetal/pseuds/fuhllmetal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>ed has a realization that warrants a little heart to heart before the world starts falling apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	two brothers have a short chat before the end of the world

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first time i've written something in months. oops.  
> i've always loved the idea of ed and al being half xerxian, though, and wanted to do something with it. immediately. this story doesn't really do a whole lot with it (more like uses it as a conduit for ed to have A Sad), but just mentioning it satisfied me for now

            “Al.”

            Creaking noises filled the room. Alphonse’s metal head turned to face his brother, who was looking out of the room’s window, lost in thought. He’d been like this for the past half hour; Al hadn’t bothered him, of course. Whenever he got in moods like this, it was best to let him stew until he felt talkative again.

            “What is it, brother?” Al answered.

            “You know when Ling told us about the story of the western philosopher? From Xerxes?” Ed asked, his voice slightly muffled. His jaw was resting heavily on his flesh hand; it hindered his speech, but not enough to be unintelligible.

            “Yeah. The man that brought alkahestry to Xing,” Al replied. “It’s the same man as the eastern sage that brought alchemy to Amestris, right?” Ed nodded, though it was hard to tell. The only thing that gave it away was the vague bobbing of Ed’s golden braid over his back.

 

            Ed was silent for a few more minutes and Al let him be. This was the first time they had seen each other in months, and Al had hoped Ed would be a little more talkative, but this was fine. Just being around his brother was enough for Al, honestly. With the stress of the Promised Day approaching at high speeds, he could understand Ed’s stress (Al had plenty of his own); even if his methods for dealing with it were different, Al could deal.

            “Hohenheim was that guy.” Ed’s voice was very hard to make out, between the hand and his quiet tone, but Al understood him. He already knew. “Our father. Our hundreds-of-years-old father. He was from _fucking_ Xerxes.”

            Ed’s voice gained a troubling quality. Al wasn’t sure if he was about to cry, or yell, or just keep sitting quietly in the uncomfortable thinking position he had assumed half an hour earlier.

            “Brother…” Al started. He wasn’t sure where his sentence was going, but it didn’t matter after all once Ed cut him off by turning around.

 

            His face wasn’t tear stained, or scrunched up in emotional agony, or even pinched with anger. Al had a feeling that his body, wherever it was beyond the gate, just let out a sigh of relief. But there was still a sort of haunting quality to the confusion in his brother’s eyes, his eyebrows pressed inwards just so. It bothered Al.

            “Al, we’re half Xerxian. We descended straight from Xerxes. The ruined city of hundreds of years is where our father comes from.” Ed kept repeating the same idea with different words, over and over again. Al wondered if he should be worried.

            “Al.”

            The room was silent. Nothing dared move, and Al didn’t dare answer.

 

            “I wonder if Hohenheim would tell us what it was like.”

            Al didn’t move for a different reason this time. Ed _hated_ their father! Why was he considering speaking to him in the first place, much less make interested conversation? Maybe Envy replaced Ed when no one was looking and was just waiting to strike.

            No. Even Envy knew that Ed would never play nice with Hohenheim, and Envy wouldn’t want to give himself away so easily. This had to be the real deal.

 

            “Al?”

            “Yeah, brother? I’m listening.”

            “I wonder if mom knew.”

 

            Dead silence. This time, the entire world seemed to stop, like it did every time someone dared reference Trisha Elric and her time in the world of the living. Al thought he might have gotten over it at least a little bit after all of these years, but every time she was brought up, his soul clenched the same way it had ever since the fateful afternoon when she collapsed with the groceries.

            “I-“

            “Don’t apologize, Ed.”

 

            It was quiet again, but the silence was milder.

            Al didn’t blame Ed for being curious. Hell, he was curious too. But, as usual, Ed was the one with more guts to actually vocalize those kinds of thoughts. Al knew he had always been the weaker one in that standing.

            “I was wondering the same thing, brother.” Al answered, softly.

            Ed let a morbid chuckle escape. Al didn’t do the same.

 

            “Yeah, I guess that’s us. Little obsessed with our mom, don’t ya think?” Ed chuckled again. Al raised his metal head.

            “I think we’ve become our own people, brother. Outside of our mom.” Al replied, even softer. “It was pretty touch and go there for a while, but…” He paused.

 

            “I really do think we’re our own people past our mom or dad or anyone else. We have our own ambitions and hopes for the future. If we manage to stop Father and let that future happen in the first place, anyway.”

 

            Ed was silent this time. He sat still, completely still, for a solid thirty seconds. Then, he lept into action.

            His arms stretched as far around Al’s wide metal body as he could manage, encompassing the empty shell as if the human body far away was inside of it, just out of reach. Ed’s cheek was awkwardly pressed against Al’s breastplate, one side of his head resting on Al, who was perpendicular to Ed’s former position.

            Al was caught by surprise at first and didn’t move for a good ten seconds. When the realization that his brother was hugging him, for the first time in years, dawned on him, he turned and wrapped his huge metal arms around Ed in turn. Their position was awkward and a little uncomfortable, but it worked. It was all they needed. It was all they asked for.

 

            “I…I don’t ever tell you this, but…I love you, Al.” Ed’s words sunk through Al’s metal body and reverberated around the inside, filling him up. It was a strange sensation. Al didn’t mind it.

            “I love you too, brother.”


End file.
